Ravichandran Ashwin, Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis are among six captains preparing to lead teams in the inaugural European T20 Premier League, which begins in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
The six captains gathered with the trophy ahead of the opening match, bringing together some of international cricket’s most experienced players and two locally based leaders from the Netherlands and Scotland.
Ashwin will captain and mentor the Dublin Guardians, while Australian all-rounder Maxwell will lead the Belfast Wolves as both captain and co-owner. Former South African captain du Plessis will take charge of the Rotterdam Dockers, another franchise in which its captain also holds an ownership stake.
New Zealand white-ball captain Mitchell Santner will lead
New Zealand white-ball captain Mitchell Santner will lead the Edinburgh Castle Rockers, Scotland international George Munsey will captain Glasgow Cosmic and former Netherlands captain Scott Edwards will take charge of the Amsterdam Flames.
Edwards assumed the Amsterdam captaincy after Australia’s Mitchell Marsh, who had originally been appointed to the role, withdrew to prioritise international commitments. Munsey and Edwards are the competition’s two European captains.
Rotterdam and Amsterdam will contest the opening match at Voorburg on August 26. Belfast will face Dublin the following day before Edinburgh meets Glasgow in the third match of the tournament. The official ETPL schedule lists the opening eight matches at Voorburg.
The tournament features six city-based franchises representing Ireland,
The tournament features six city-based franchises representing Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It is the first International Cricket Council-sanctioned franchise T20 competition to operate across several European countries.
Each team will play the other five sides twice during a 30-match league phase. The side finishing first will progress directly to the final, while the second and third-placed teams will meet in a qualifier on September 19. The final will be played the following day.
Voorburg will host the first phase before the competition moves to Dublin, where the qualifier and final will be staged. The tournament runs from August 26 to September 20. ESPNcricinfo reported that teams may field up to four overseas players, with the remaining places intended to provide opportunities for cricketers from the participating countries and other European nations.
The league has attracted several prominent former players
The league has attracted several prominent former players and business figures as franchise owners. Rahul Dravid is involved with Dublin, Steve Waugh with Amsterdam and Matthew Hayden with Glasgow. Former New Zealand internationals Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum are connected to Edinburgh, while former South African players Jonty Rhodes and Heinrich Klaasen are among Rotterdam’s ownership group.
The competition was initially scheduled to launch in 2025 but was postponed after the required external investment was not secured. Its arrival follows the abandoned Euro T20 Slam, which was cancelled shortly before its planned opening in 2019.
The six-team structure brings established international players into the same competition as emerging European cricketers, with each franchise representing one of Amsterdam, Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Rotterdam.
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